diff --git a/contaminate/__init__.py b/contaminate/__init__.py
index 988d6005bed7b5332323aa618aafbd30d73624ac..1a21e96607e71925f4c412e6ff2310a3ca68a8f0 100644
--- a/contaminate/__init__.py
+++ b/contaminate/__init__.py
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
 from .container import Container
 from .container_env import ContainerEnv
-from .action import Return, Script, Shell, Upload, Download
+from .action import (
+    Action,
+    Return,
+    Script,
+    Shell,
+    Upload,
+    Download,
+    sequence_rules
+)
diff --git a/contaminate/action.py b/contaminate/action.py
index 3cf408c00c243d3ccc1214e2d75175c4b7d9e3e4..41a80c4566a95ed366c89fb7ecad65bd4b97bbee 100644
--- a/contaminate/action.py
+++ b/contaminate/action.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
 
 from .container import Container
 from .container_env import ContainerEnv
-from .podman import runcmd
+import contaminate.podman as podman
 
 class AReturn(BaseModel):
     action_type : Literal["return"] = "return"
@@ -31,25 +31,31 @@ class AShell(BaseModel):
         return c.run_shell(self.script)
 
 class AUpload(BaseModel):
+    """ Note: paths in Upload and Download
+        must be strings, since docker uses ending '/'
+        to denote moving inside a directory, as opposed to
+        overwriting.
+    """
     action_type : Literal["upload"] = "upload"
-    src         : Path # local
-    dst         : Path # remote
+    src         : str # local
+    dst         : str # remote
     extract     : bool = False # use ADD instead of COPY
 
     def __call__(self, c : Container) -> Container:
-        cmd = f"COPY {self.src} {self.dst}"
+        src = podman.quote(self.src)
+        dst = podman.quote(self.dst)
+        cmd = f'COPY ["{src}", "{dst}"]'
         if self.extract:
-            cmd = f"ADD {self.src} {self.dst}"
+            cmd = f'ADD ["{src}", "{dst}"]'
         return c.run_cmd(cmd)
 
 class ADownload(BaseModel):
     action_type : Literal["download"] = "download"
-    src         : Path # remote
-    dst         : Path # local
+    src         : str # remote
+    dst         : str # local
 
     def __call__(self, c : Container) -> Container:
-        runcmd("podman", "cp",
-               f"{c.name}:{self.src}", self.dst)
+        podman.download(c.name, self.src, self.dst)
         return c
 
 ActionT = Annotated[
@@ -90,11 +96,24 @@ def Script(script : str) -> Action:
 def Shell(script : str) -> Action:
     return Action(AShell(script = script))
 
-def Upload(src : Union[str,Path], dst : Union[str,Path],
+def Upload(src : str, dst : str,
            extract : bool = False) -> Action:
-    return Action(AUpload(src=Path(src),
-                          dst=Path(dst), extract=extract))
-
-def Download(src : Union[str,Path], dst : Union[str,Path]
-             ) -> Action:
-    return Action(ADownload(src=Path(src), dst=Path(dst)))
+    return Action(AUpload(src=src,
+                          dst=dst, extract=extract))
+
+def Download(src : str, dst : str) -> Action:
+    return Action(ADownload(src=src, dst=dst))
+
+# Run a sequence of rules, saving a json state ea. time.
+def sequence_rules(rules : dict[str, Action], *steps : str) -> Container:
+    C = None
+    for s in steps:
+        result = Path(s + ".json")
+        if result.exists():
+            C = Container.load(result)
+        else:
+            assert C is not None, f"Starting file '{result}' not present."
+            C = C.run( rules[s], name = s )
+            C.store(result)
+    assert C is not None, "Empty rule set."
+    return C
diff --git a/contaminate/podman.py b/contaminate/podman.py
index b737887e2c82ffb7db459c730fcd516825f72b11..3151190feecd10d8e1887447de5d03d05662226c 100644
--- a/contaminate/podman.py
+++ b/contaminate/podman.py
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ import os
 import string
 from pathlib import Path
 
+def quote(s) -> str:
+    return str(s).replace("\\", "\\\\").replace('"', '\"')
+
 def to_oneliner(cmds):
     # process end-of-lines
     shell = ""
@@ -79,3 +82,6 @@ def build(name : str,
         if fname != "":
             os.remove(fname)
     return "\n".join(ans)
+
+def download(name, src, dst):
+    runcmd("podman", "cp", f"{c.name}:{self.src}", self.dst)